


This is Freedom

by InsightfulWolf (Larkawolfgirl)



Category: Original Work
Genre: Adolescence, Anti-society, Gen, Nature, Teenage Rebellion, Wolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-16
Updated: 2016-07-16
Packaged: 2018-07-24 09:16:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7502751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Larkawolfgirl/pseuds/InsightfulWolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To Charlotte, it felt like the world was closing in around her. All society gave her were enclosing walls and suffocating expectations. The open world that lay beyond called to her soul of something greater.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This is Freedom

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for my create writing class and had a word limit, so I did have to reduce my descriptions a bit. My ending was also altered from the original since my classmates were less-receptive to my "anti-society" message. Let me know what you think of the ending.

She crumpled upon herself as the stress and exertion finally reached her nervous system. The hard ground met her knees with a crack, but she was too exhausted to care. She took slow heavy breaths trying to still her rampant heart. She looked around her and was met with oblivion. There was nothing besides cracked earth and the lightly falling snow. Somewhere along the way the sun had fallen, and her naked form shivered from the chill night-air.

She was free. She was alone.

Lowering her head, thick hair fell in a curtain. She couldn’t win no matter how she tried. All that effort and look what it had gotten her?

Her attentions were diverted from her inner conflict at the howl. It shook the air with tendrils of power. The melody rose and fell - rose and fell. Her body shook again, but this time in anticipation. One way or another, she knew this creature would be her savior.

Walls. That was where she lived. Her home was a sturdy structure of walls and doors. When she left, she entered an enclosed vehicle that moved her to yet another massively walled structure. She couldn't remember the last time she had been to a park. There just wasn't time. School was more important, her parents said. She needed to keep her grades up so that she could be hired into the tallest structure in the city. The office building was one of prestige, they said.

“How was school today, sweetie?” her mother asked.

“It was okay. We learned about derivatives, but the weather was so nice today that I struggled not to stare out the window.” She let out a laugh but was cut off by her father's stare.

“Charlotte, we can't have that. You need to focus on your studies. Besides, what is so great about what's out there anyway? Do you know how long it took civilization to form? To provide you with these safe havens?”

“I know, Dad.” Charlotte lowered her head. Long tufts of hair surrounded her face. “Sorry, I'll try harder.” She did know that civilization had taken a lot of effort. She knew that she shouldn’t take it for granted, but she still did.

“Charlotte, sweetie, sit up straight. That posture isn't good for you.” Charlotte raised her head.

“How is your essay coming?” The scholarship essay about what you believe to be civilization's greatest development. The one that her father was so set on her writing about walls. The walls that protect you from the outside world. The walls that divide properties. The walls that allow you to build upwards instead of outward, preserving land.

“It’s coming.”

“How far would that be?”

“A paragraph-” Her head fell again.

“Charlotte!” Both her parents called out in unison.

“Why are you finding this so difficult? Walls are the perfect topic. You could write ten pages if you wanted! Get back to work when you finish eating!”

Her mother chimed in. “Didn't I tell you to sit up straight? Who is going to pay for your medical bill when you get a spinal fracture?”

The walls seemed to be closing in around her. Her breathing became labored and she clenched her chest. “I...I need some air,” she let out breathily as she stumbled her way out the front door.

The weight lifted, the walls were momentarily forgotten as she stared at the endless blue sky. The wind called to her of freedom, its grip pulling her away. She moved forward as if possessed, but then came the voice of her mother.

“Charlotte, you better get back in here and eat your dinner before it gets cold!” The walls engulfed her once again.

Weeks passed mundanely. The usual conflicts with her parents continued, and her essay was not progressing. As her homework piled on, she found it harder and harder to focus. The outside world seemed so much more worthwhile. Sometimes she would open her window, intending to only take a quick smell of the neighboring lilac bush, but soon lost herself in the sensation. The smell caressed her, making her feel safe and accepted. Time disappeared in this fashion.

“Charlotte, is your homework done?” Her father asked her one night while in the living room. He had caught her idly glancing out the window.

“Almost.”

“Get it done now. What are you wasting your time staring at the sunset for? It’s just colors in the sky. Learning about accounting, now that’s productive.”

“It’s just adding and subtracting numbers. Big deal.”

“Charlotte! How dare you talk to me like that. Besides, there is a more to it than that. How do you expect businesses to stay afloat without calculating their debt and credit?”

“Maybe they shouldn’t.”

“What was that?”

“Maybe we’d be better off without places like that office building.”

“Go to your room right now.” Her father’s face was more furious than she’d ever seen it, yet she was beyond caring right now. He refused to listen to her. To let her live her life.

“Fine, I felt like lying down anyway.” She stormed off not forgetting to slam her door in the process.

As she lay there trying to fall asleep, she remembered that the window remained open. Groggy, she crawled to it, but just as she reached for the latch a howl sounded distantly. Its noise shook her and she couldn’t deny the urge to follow it. Staring into the darkness her sleep-heavy eyes could just make out the outline of some sort of animal. Her tired brain whispered that she must be seeing things, yet it didn’t matter either way. She wanted it to be real, and so it was to her. As she focused her eyes more keenly on the figure, its outline sharpened and transformed into a wolf. Its now translucent eyes bore into hers, as if trying to tell her something. That was it. She could write her essay now. Closing her eyes, she let the sound travel across her very being. Footsteps could be heard outside her door. The window shut.

“Sweetie, have you been exercising regularly?”

“Not really, Mom.”

“Come on, sweetie. It’s good for you.”

“I know. I just haven’t felt like it lately.”

“You sure have had plenty of time to with your slacking,” came her father’s voice as he entered the dining room, which was devoid of any artwork. She immediately stiffened within the solid chair. “How is your essay anyway?”

“I finished it actually.”

“You did?” Her father’s scowl pulled into an expression of pride. “Why didn’t you say so. Let me read it.”

“I don’t want you to.”

“And why is that?”

“Um…” Her body shriveled. Submission had been ingrained into her. “Fine you can read it.”

She went to her room to retrieve it bringing back stabled sheets of paper. Her father scanned the page and she watched as his face took on a grisly undertone. Luckily, she had printed it; otherwise it would have been simple enough for him to delete the file.

“What is this?” he asked in subtle horror.

“My essay.”

“Don’t play sassy with me. You know full well what I’m asking. What is this?”

“My real feelings. I don’t love these walls, Dad. I hate them. Civilization’s greatest accomplishment was realizing that it needed to take care of the earth or else it would be destroyed.” She managed to dictate the words clearly and defiantly, even though a part of her still wanted to relent to his will.

“This will not win you the scholarship,” he replied sounding dangerously calm. “You need this scholarship.”

“No, I don’t. I can do what I want with my life.”

“Not in this house.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t live here any longer then.”

“You wouldn’t.” The threat loomed over her.

“Please calm down. We just love and want the best for you,” her mother pleaded. 

She relaxed into her chair. Of course they cared about her. She knew that, but with how much they hounded her, it was easy to forget.

“Charlotte, do you need some therapy?”

“God! No, Mom, I’m fine.”

“Well, you certainly haven’t been acting fine.” Her mother had fear in her eyes.

“I just care more about other things lately.”

“Like what?” Her father’s eyes bore into her.

“…Like nature.”

“Christ. Charlotte, you are a young woman now. You need to be more responsible with your time. Nature is there, and will remain there. But your life, on the other hand, is passing you by.”

“Maybe I just see life differently than you.”

“You are simply confused. You are scared of the real world aren’t you?” Her mother’s overly sweet voice sounded like rotten candy to Charlotte’s ears.

“That’s not it. Am I not allowed to live how I want? It is my life you know!”

“As long as you live here it’s not.”

 ‘Get out of here!’ her mind screamed as she stared at the spinning walls. She could feel their enclosing force.

“Work hard,” her father’s voice echoed in her head.

“Take care of yourself,” her mother’s joined in. The sounds reverberated off of the walls drowning her. There was no air. No room remained for air between the solid entrapment of wood and orders. She felt ready to pass out.

Just as she felt a soft hand touch her it happened. A scream was released from deep within her. In it contained all the conflict she had endured, all the resentment.

“No!”

Her parents stared at her in shocked silence. Numbly she realized that she should feel ashamed, but she felt relief instead. Without any second thoughts she approached the entranceway.

“If you walk through that door, don’t you dare think of coming back.”

A smile spread upon her face as she closed the door behind her.

She was running, feeling more alive than ever before. The city had disappeared leading to a grassy embankment. Giddy, the girl shed the clothing that now felt oddly restricting. She laughed as the wind embraced her more softly than her mother’s arms ever had. The grass tickled her bare feet. The sun was warm and welcoming.

All too quickly the grass dissipated into rock beneath her feet. The welcoming trees were gone, replaced with openness. She stopped taking a glance back at the comforting grass. What lay before her was too open, too unknown. Yet, she knew that she could not stay in that grassy place. It was not far enough away. She may be caught at any moment. Caught and dragged back into that constricting life of walls. She had gone too far to go back now.

Forcing her fear back she resuming running, running so fast that she couldn’t focus on her surroundings. She crumpled upon herself as the stress and exertion finally reached her nervous system. The hard ground met her knees with a crack, but she was too exhausted to care. She took slow heavy breathes trying to still her rampant heart. She was free at last. Yet, as she looked around her, she was met with oblivion. There was nothing besides cracked earth and the lightly falling snow. White began to pool in puddles as she watched. Somewhere along the way the sun had fallen.

She was free. She was alone.

For the first time she realized what her father had meant about walls acting as protection. Here in this place she was vulnerable to anything, emphasized by the night chill that had begun to run through her naked form. She had been naive. Removing her clothes would be the death of her. Lowering her head, her thick hair fell in a curtain. She couldn’t win no matter how she tried. All that effort and look what it had gotten her.

Her attentions were diverted from her inner conflict at the howl. It shook the air with tendrils of power. The melody rose and fell… rose and fell. Her body shook again, but this time in anticipation. One way or another, she knew this creature would be her savior.

She wondered if the wolf would kill her. She wouldn’t mind if he did. At least it would be a death she chose. He looked menacing as he stood there proud with his ears and tail raised high. He let out a low growl before approaching warily. He growled again, as if testing to see if she would flee. When she didn’t move, he set upon sniffing her face. The act sent tickle trills across her neck and she laughed instinctually. It sounded eerie as it spread across the endless landscape. The wolf stepped back as if in surprise and cocked his head to the side, ears tilted forward. His menacing exterior had fallen away, and the girl hesitantly reached forward to pat his scruffy tuft. His eyes stared into her own in what she assumed was pleasure.

“If you’re not going to kill me then would you mind if I came with you?” she asked. He half turned, shifting her attention to what lie behind him. Her eyes had adjusted fully to the darkness now, and she could make out the line of five other wolves. His pack.

When she just sat there staring, the wolf tugged lightly on her hair. He whined. The girl rose and followed him to the pack. The wolves encircled her, rubbing against her bare legs. Their fur was soft and soothing. Together the wolves howled up to the moon. ‘My pack,’ she thought. When their chilling song ended they grinned before taking off running into the spacious void. A smile touched her lips as she let her legs move with abandon. Her body still felt chill, her legs still felt sore. She may still die from cold or hunger, but here in this place she was free.


End file.
